Storms
by insaneantics21
Summary: *Puppy-verse #21* A storm rolls through New York City.


**-June 2033-**  
_"Meteorologists are calling it one of the worst storms in the last decade for the city of New York. Residents are being advised to take cover in their basements and have plenty of water and flashlights at hand."_

Santana sat on the couch with her eyes glued to the TV watching the giant bright and dark red storm cell creep closer and closer. As the redness moved closer, her heart rate went faster. She'd already called Brittany at the dance studio and told her to stay there. Milo and Joshua were sound asleep in their beds, the Fabray-Berrys were in Lima for two weeks, and Santana was panicking.

The power flickered and the Latina jumped and squeaked a little. The TV showed a test pattern signaling power had probably gone out somewhere in the city and so she shut off the TV and rooted around behind it to find the power strip to shut it off. Just as she'd learned in elementary school she went around the house and unplugged everything she could reach. She grabbed a bag out of the hall closet and pulled all the water bottles from the refrigerator out plus juice boxes, then moved to the cabinets and grabbed cups and snacks then finally she opened the "I can't find a place for it so we'll put it in here" drawer and dug out a few flashlights and some batteries along with candles and matches.

A clap of thunder rolled through; Santana jumped and shrieked and almost dropped the bag. Milo ran into the kitchen and practically climbed up his mother.

"Hey, hey, it's okay mi'jo!" Santana smiled to mask her own panic. "We're going to have a sleepover in the basement, okay?"

The young boy nodded and clung onto his mother as she directed him to the basement door. Milo cautiously started his way down the steps and Santana went to Joshua's room to wake the ten-year-old and Duck who was curled up at the foot of the blonde boy's bed. Joshua grumbled incoherently and Santana just nudged him down the hall and down the basement steps, Duck barreled down the stairs and Santana heard Milo greet her. There was a buzz and a crack outside the window and Santana froze when suddenly the stairwell was dark.

"Mami?" Joshua called out.

"I'm right here, mi'jo! Hold on just a second." Santana rummaged around in the backpack and produced a flashlight. The bright light lit up the stairwell enough for them to see the rest of the way downstairs. Milo was curled up on the couch in the room that doubled as a laundry room. Santana motioned for him to hop up while she pulled out the couch and dusted off the sheets of the bed.

"Mami," Milo whimpered. "Is the storm gonna blow us away?"

"Not if I have anything to do with it."

"Where's Mama?" Joshua's eyes were wide with fear.

"She's at the studio, don't worry." Santana again smiled through her panic and rooted around in the bag for the small radio. The only station that she could find was playing classical music. She tucked her lower lip between her teeth and looked at her two petrified boys and tried to think. She grinned when she remembered it.

When Santana and Brittany were seven, Lima had a storm. The worst storm Santana had ever seen. There were tornadoes and leveled buildings everywhere in the aftermath. However, during the storm, they'd been at Brittany's house and to distract the girls from what was going on Brittany's dad had emptied the linen closet of sheets and blankets, gave the girls clothespins and told them to have fun.

Santana handed the flashlight to Joshua and instructed her boys to stay right where they were. She rummaged through the bag and pulled out a second flashlight and ran up the stairs. She grabbed every sheet and blanket she could out of the linen closet. When she got back downstairs she tossed the pile on the pull out bed and grabbed the bag of clothespins from their place in the cabinet above the dryer and tossed them on the bed as well.

"Okay," she said. "Let's get to work."

Santana reached up and attached the sheets to the hooks on the support beams while Joshua and Milo pinned the sheets together around the couch until there was a giant tent encompassing the pull out. Duck pulled down the sheet more than once until Joshua told her to stay on the couch.

"Damn dog never listens to me," Santana muttered.

Milo was the first in, scrambling in through the small opening and bouncing up onto the mattress, Joshua followed and then Santana. The Latina settled herself in the middle of the bed with Milo on her left and Joshua on her right. Milo snuggled up to her and rested his head on her stomach. Joshua tried to resist snuggling up to his mother, insisting he was too old, but a rumble of thunder that rattled the high up basement window made him change his mind.

"Tell us a story, Mami," Milo yawned.

"What story do you want to hear, mi'jo?"

"I dunno."

Santana went through the list of possible stories she could tell. Most of them revolved around high school and finding ways to torture Rachel. She immediately nixed those ideas; she didn't want her sons getting any ideas. She skipped to college…there were really no stories to tell. None they needed to know about just yet, anyway.

"Mami?"

"I'm thinking, Milo."

"Think faster!"

"You need to be more patient or something."

"Mama always tells stories about a duck and a kitten."

"A duck and a kitten?" Santana arched her eyebrow. "Like…what kind of stories?"

Joshua sighed and snuggled closer to his mother. "Like how one time they went to the park and the kitten fell in the water and the duck saved it. Or when the kitten was 'fraid to go up a tree. Or when it stormed and they made a tent like this one."

Santana blinked and smiled. "I know those stories," she said.

"Tell us one, Mami. _Por favor_?" Milo grinned.

Santana nodded. "So one time the duck and the kitten, they were out riding their bikes, yeah? Well this big bad bulldog with weird hair decided that he was going to be a big jerk and throw a ball at the duck. The duck fell off her bike and the kitten rushed to her to make sure she was okay, you know because she cared about the duck a lot. Once she made sure the duck was okay the kitten marched into the yard where the bulldog was and she kicked him in the huevos and he…"

"Santana!"

Santana looked up to see her wife's head poking into the fort, jaw dropped. "Hey B, I was just telling…"

"You can't tell them _that_ story." Brittany stepped into the tent and dropped down onto the bed. Milo scooted over to her as she lay down and snuggled into her chest. Joshua crawled over Santana to fit himself in between Santana and his brother.

"It's a good story."

"It's mean."

"Yeah but the kitten totally had a reason…"

"Tell them nice stories, S. Like the time the kitten and the duck went to the carnival."

"Mami?" Milo asked with a sleepy yawn. "Wha' happened to the kitten an' the duck when they growed up?"

Santana reached over to run her fingers through Milo's thick hair and she smiled. "They lived happily ever after, mi'jo."

"Okay."

Joshua let out a light snore and Milo finally shut his eyes. Brittany reached up over her head and stretched out her pinky; Santana reached out to meet her and linked their fingers together.

"Goodnight, kitten," Brittany whispered.

Santana chuckled. "Goodnight, duck." The dog curled up at the end of the bed perked her head up and whimpered. Santana shook her head. "Yeah, yeah. Goodnight to you too, mutt."

As the sun peeked through the small window Santana woke with a smile on her face and her three favorite people all snoring softly beside her. Maybe storms weren't so bad after all.


End file.
